The History of Healthcare Informatics

Merging technology and medicine has created medical informatics.

Merging humanity and technology doesn't always have negative health implications. At least that's the idea behind healthcare informatics, wherein modern information technologies complement diagnostics, therapies and rehabilitation in the healthcare industry.

Beginnings

According to the book "eHealth," healthcare informatics spawned during the 1950s in the United States as computer science progressed and found application in the medical field. The last two decades of the 20th century especially contributed to healthcare informatics with the advent of the Internet.

Progression

Recognizing that a united network of health professionals would quicken advancement in medical understanding and treatment, the U.S. government instituted the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology in 2004. ONCHIT was tasked with building the National Health Information Network, which would contribute to a better-connected, more-informed industry.

Scope

Going beyond the U.S., healthcare informatics has inspired interest globally, with international organizations committed to implementing informatics. Throughout time, organizations such as the International Medical Informatics Association, United Kingdom Health Informatics and the American Medical Informatics Association have developed.

References

• "eHealth - Combining Health Telematics, Telemedicine, Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics to the Edge"; Bernd Blobel, Peter Pharow, Michael Nerlich; 2008
• "Medical Quality Management"; Prathibha Varkey, American College of Medical Quality; 2010
• Biohealthmatics: Health Informatics

Resources

• International Medical Informatics Association
• United Kingdom Health Informatics
• American Medical Informatics Association